Iraq accuses Turkey of 'greed' for exporting Kurdistan's oil

Iraq slammed Turkey for exporting the oil of northern Kurdistan, dismissing it as a sign of “greed.” It also warned against dire consequences if Euphrates water supply is cut off from Iraq.

“We believe that Turkey is motivated by greed in trying to control the inexpensive Iraqi oil,” deputy prime minister for energy affairs Hussein al-Shehrestani told AFP.

Shehrestani, also a former oil minister, claimed that Turkey facilitated the smuggling of oil, which strained the bilateral relations between the two countries.

“We had reached a relatively good level of cooperation before Turkey’s greed led it to help smuggle crude oil,” he added.

Iraqi oil ministry renewed its warning Monday of international companies and markets against purchasing oil from the oil tanker United Leadership, laden with crude oil extracted from Kurdistan’s oil fields.

The ministry considered the oil on the tanker to be stolen and smuggled across borders without permission from the federal government or the ministry of oil. It warned that any entity or company involved in this business would be prosecuted. It also called on the Turkish government to honour the agreement signed between the two countries in 2010.

“Turkey’s behaviour is a violation of Security Council resolution which stipulated that Iraq’s oil revenues would be deposited in a special account in the United States to pay parts of the damages owed by Iraq, and Turkey has no right to be involved in this,” the Iraqi ministry said in a statement.